Archive for November, 2016

Your daughter needs extra help with her reading homework, but at that very moment, your son has figured out how to build a car with legos. Where do you turn? Sounds like a day in the life of every mom, right!? When one child needs extra help in any area of his or her life, it is easy to forget that the other child (or children!) need your attention too! We assume they know we love them, but for most children our approval and attention is a sign of our love.

So what do we do? Grow four more arms and another set of eyes? As helpful as that might sound, we have a better way! Why not include the other child? Are you showing your baby how to crawl? Have everyone crawl around the house to chase a ball. Maybe, your elder child needs help in math. Have a hands on math activity your youngest can do beside you while you assist the older child. Give praise to both as they complete their work.

At Camp Academia, siblings who see their brother or sister do Brainjogging want to be apart of the action! Why not teach them how to help instead of “shooing” them away. In the picture below, the 4 year old little sister is holding her brother’s head, so he can do Brainjogging. (Brainjogging only works when you keep your head very still and only move your eyes!)

Kids can help too!

We can also make a child feel special by give her special mommy time. You can schedule a specific time for that child and have your spouse or another family member spend time with the other child or children. A special drive or a trip for ice cream can turn into a wonderful memory for a child!

How do you make time for your children? Do you give them individual time? Or do you find away to include everyone?

Shirley Pennebaker, Gwinevere Eden, and Katie Cypers at the conference for learning disabilities in Orlando.

Last week, at the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) Conference in Orlando, Shirley Pennebaker, creator of the Brainjogging method, reunited with her mentor Gwinevere Eden! Gwinevere Eden and her colleagues were the first to apply functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to the study of dyslexia. Eden’s findings helped experts understand the neural basis of dyslexia. In other words, researchers and medical professionals were finally able to understand the difference in function and appearance between a typical brain, and a brain of someone with Dyslexia. She continues to investigate the neural representations of sensory processing and reading, and how these may be different in individuals with learning disabilities or different early childhood experiences.

A lot of Shirley’s early research includes imaging from Eden’s studies. What a wonderful meeting between two experts in the field of Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities!